What kind of data does the term 'binary' usually refer to in networking?

The term 'binary' in networking predominantly refers to digital signals. Binary data is composed of two states, often represented as 0s and 1s, which form the foundational building blocks of digital communication. This system allows for the representation of various types of information, including numbers, letters, and even more complex data formats, by encoding these different types of information into a binary format.

Networking and computer systems heavily rely on binary data for processing a variety of functions such as data transmission, storage, and operations within digital systems. The binary representation is crucial because it aligns with how electronic circuits operate, where states of off and on correspond to the binary digits.

In contrast, text formats involve characters and are typically represented using encoding systems such as ASCII or Unicode, which ultimately rely on binary at a lower level but are not encapsulated solely in the term 'binary.' Analog signals represent data in continuous waveforms rather than discrete binary values. Finally, encrypted data pertains to information that has been transformed for security purposes, usually implementing binary code at some point but again not strictly referring to the basic concept of binary data itself. Thus, digital signals are indeed the most appropriate definition directly associated with the term 'binary' in a networking context.